Frank observed, "I imagine the number of head is based upon how many the land will serve?"

"Yeah, that's right," Allison answered. "We used to have more of just about everything, but with being unable to purchase feed for the stock and, of course, the food that we didn't raise for ourselves here, we began slaughtering at a faster pace."

She gestured toward a small building, saying, "We converted one of the equipment buildings into a smoke house, so that we could slaughter, slice, and jerk carcasses. We were afraid we'd lose electricity from the grid to the walk-in freezer -- which we eventually did -- so we dried everything we didn't eat fresh."

When the Stooges rose from the shadows and ran toward them in the dimming, early evening light, Allison smiled with delight. She loved those dogs and knowing that they wouldn't harm someone in her company, she anticipated that Frank would like them, too. His expression and body language told a different story, though.

After a moment, he looked to her and admitted, "Scared the shit out of me. He interacted with them, though, speaking to them, "[i]Good[/i] dogs, [i]nice[/i] dogs."

After the dogs had taken a moment to shuffle and dance around him, Allison ordered them back to their pen, which was more often than not unlocked and open. She told him with an apologetic tone, "Sorry. I forget sometimes that some people don't like dogs, particularly when they come at them as a pack in the dark."

They spoke about Jennifer again, after which Allison pointed off past the big maple tree and said, "We're going that way."

They passed the pen where the dogs were laying down and neared another one, this one open and looking as though it had never been used; there weren't shavings on the ground for dog shit, and the dog house inside looked brand new, except for a layer of leaves on and around it.

"Inside," she told Frank, gesturing the pistol she'd continued to hold toward the open door. When he looked between her and the pen and back, she explained, "I'm going to go out and collect Jennifer and bring her back here for a property burial. In the meantime, though--"

She again waggled the Beretta toward the pen, then let it hang at her side.. She finished, "--I need to know that you're safe and secure ... and since I don't have a castle with a dungeon or a Sheriff's substation with a jail cell ... this is it. Don't worry, I'll bring you some blankets, food, and water. And a camp stove so you can heat up some of that water for formula for the baby."

She stared expectantly at Frank, hoping that he wasn't going to put up a fuss about this. It would be a shame, after all, to have gone what they'd gone through thus far only to have her shoot him dead now.